Found 107 talks archived in Telescopes and instrumentation

The Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) is a consortium of 11 US universities that currently remotely operates a 0.9 m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory and a 0.6 m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. Collectively, the SARA institutes predominantly use differential photometry techniques for studies ranging in scale from solar system asteroids and minor planets, to transiting exo-planets, most types of variable stars and binaries, to active galactic nuclei and blazers. In addition, the SARA telescopes are frequently used in preliminary observations for other major observatories (HST, for example). In this talk a brief history and the philosophy of SARA will be given, as well as more details on the current types of scientific programs run by the SARA institutes. The new scientific opportunities enabled by the JKT will also be highlighted. Finally, our development and funding plans will be presented. A description of the telescope automat ion process by Astronomical Consultants & Equipment, Inc. will conclude.

The visible survey spectrometers, VIMOS and FLAMES, have need in successful operation for nearly a decade. and within the next few weeks these will be joined by KMOS and near IR mulit-IFU spectrometer. There are also two new instruments in their early design stages, MOONS a near IR Fibre fed spectrometer and 4MOST a visible fibre fed spectrometer. This talk will present these instruments and the observing opportunity that these will provide.

CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs) is a next-generation instrument being built for the 3.5m telescope at the Calar Alto Observatory by a consortium of German and Spanish institutions. It consists of two separated spectrographs covering the wavelength ranges from 0.5 to 1.0 mum and from 1.0 to 1.7 mum with spectral resolutions R = 82,000, each of which shall perform high-accuracy radial-velocity measurements (~1 m/s) with long-term stability. The fundamental science objective of CARMENES is to carry out a survey of ~300 late-type main-sequence stars with the goal of detecting low-mass planets in their habitable zones. We aim at being able to detect 2 MEarth planets in the habitable zone of M5V stars. The CARMENES first light is expected to occur in Spring 2014.

The status of instrumentation at the ORM/OT telescopes will be reviewed. A short introduction regarding the different ways to access telescope time (normal call for proposals, service nights and DDT) will also be given. The aim of this talk is to help preparing observing proposals for the coming semester 13A. Questions/comments are welcome.

Golden Age of Astronomy” does not only influence professional but also amateur astronomy. Today, amateurs basically use the same technologies as the professionals. This includes the most important tool – spectroscopy. There is an important gap in professional astronomical spectroscopy which can be filled by amateurs and their smaller telescopes. Some stellar phenomena need longer time coverage, of order, e.g., some weeks. This is especially valid for binary stars. One such interesting target is Wolf-Rayet 140, a WR+O binary with a highly eccentric orbit and a period of about 8 years. The observation of its periastron passage in the visible wavelength range is valuable for measurements in other wavelength domains to understand the wind-wind shock interaction of both components and the global geometry and physics of the system. For this and some other massive star targets, a group of amateur and professional astronomers performed a successful campaign for 116 nights at the 50 cm Mons telescope at Teide observatory, supported by the IAC and embedded in a joint worldwide X-ray, visual and IR campaign. The group of observers was a mix of enthusiastic astronomers from various professions (e.g., physicists, a physics student, a chemist, a physician, a schoolboy, a pilot) but they all have been experienced and enthusiastic observers. The talk will highlight the most important results of this campaign

The status of instrumentation at GTC and other ORM/OT telescopes will be reviewed. A short introduction regarding the different ways to access telescope time (normal call for proposals, service nights and DDT) will also be given. The aim of this talk is to help preparing observing proposals for the coming semester 12B.

The European Space Agency's Planck satellite was launched on 14 May 2009, and has been surveying the sky stably and continuously since 13 August 2009. Its performance is well in line with expectations, and it will continue to gather scientific data until the end of its cryogenic lifetime. I will present the first scientific results of the mission, which appeared as a series of 26 papers at the beginning of this year 2011, covering a variety of astrophysical topics. In particular, I will focus on the results on galactic diffuse emissions, as well as the first results on galaxy clusters detected by means of the Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect.

Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most dramatic examples of massive stellar deaths, usually associated with supernovae (Woosley et al. 2006). They release ultra-relativistic jets producing non-thermal emission through synchrotron radiation as they interact with the surrounding medium (Zhang et al. 2004). Here we report observations of the peculiar GRB 101225A (the "Christmas burst"). Its gamma-ray emission was exceptionally long and followed by a bright X-ray transient with a hot thermal component and an unusual optical counterpart. During the first 10 days, the optical emission evolved as an expanding, cooling blackbody after which an additional component, consistent with a faint supernova, emerged. We determine its distance to 1.6 Gpc by fitting the spectral-energy distribution and light curve of the optical emission with a GRB-supernova template. Deep optical observations may have revealed a faint, unresolved host galaxy. Our proposed progenitor is a helium star-neutron star merger that underwent a common envelope phase expelling its hydrogen envelope. The resulting explosion created a GRB-like jet which gets thermalized by interacting with the dense, previously ejected material and thus creating the observed black-body, until finally the emission from the supernova dominated. An alternative explanation is a minor body falling onto a neutron star in the Galaxy (Campana et al. 2011).

Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope is in the process of deploying a world-wide network of 1m and 40cm telescopes to facilitate studies in time-domain astronomy. I will describe the intended network, including the capabilities of the telescopes and instruments, the means for scheduling observations and controlling the telescopes, and the anticipated organization of the science collaborations that must develop in order to make best use of LCOGT's facilities.

The success of the next generation of instruments for 8 to 40-m class telescopes will depend on the ability of Adaptive Optics (AO) systems to provide excellent image quality and stability. This will be achieved by increasing the sampling, wavelength range and correction quality of the wave front error in both spatial and time domains. The modern generation of AO wavefront sensor detectors started in the late nineties with the development of the CCD50 detector by e2v under ESO contract for the ESO NAOS AO system. With a 128x128 pixels format, this 8 outputs CCD runs at a 500 Hz frame rate with a readout noise of 7e-. A major breakthrough has been achieved with the recent development of the CCD220, also by e2v technologies. This 240x240 pixels 8 outputs EMCCD (CCD with internal multiplication) has been jointly funded by ESO and Europe under the FP6 programme. The CCD220 detector and the OCAM2 camera are now the most sensitive system in the world for advanced adaptive optics systems, offering an astonishing <0.2 e readout noise at a frame rate of 1500 Hz with negligible dark current. Extremely easy to operate, OCAM2 only needs a 24 V power supply and a modest water cooling circuit. This system will be extensively described in this talk. An upgrade of OCAM2 is foreseen to boost its frame rate to 2500 Hz, opening the window of XAO wavefront sensing for the ELT. Since this major success, new developments started in Europe. One is fully dedicated to Laser Guide Star AO for the ELT with an ESO involvment. The spot elongation from a LGS SH wavefront sensor induces an increase of the pixel format. Two detectors are currently developed by e2v. The NGSD will be a 672x672 pixels CMOS detector with a readout noise of 4e (goal 1e) at 700 Hz frame rate. The LGSD is a scaling of the NGSD with 1680x1680 pixels and 3 e readout noise (goal 1e) at 700 Hz frame rate. New technologies will be developed for that purpose: new CMOS pixel architecture, CMOS back thinned and back illuminated device, full digital outputs. In addition, the CMOS technology is extremely robust in a telescope environment. Both detectors will be used on the ELT, depending on the AO system considered. Additional developments also started for wavefront sensing in the infrared based on new breakthrough using ultra low noise Avalanche Photodiode (APD) arrays within the RAPID project. The latter should offer a 320x240 8 outputs 30 microns IR array, sensitive from 0.4 to 3.2 microns, with 2 e readout noise at 1500 Hz frame rate. First results of this project will be showed.